Ex-Joliet man found guilty in brutal beating death of boy, 2

Will County judge dismisses argument that it could have been an accident

August 19, 2010|By Steve Schmadeke, Tribune reporter

A former Joliet man was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in the brutal beating death of his former best friend's 2-year-old boy, who was found in 2007 wedged upside down between his bed and the wall above two puddles of blood.

Gilbert Knowles, 35, was immediately taken into custody. Family members from both sides sobbed in the packed courtroom as Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt read his verdict.

In three years, Knowles went from being the best man at Bryan Owens' wedding to having an affair with Owens' wife, Julie; moving into Julie's Joliet home; and then allegedly beating Owens' son Devin to death after months of abuse. Prosecutors speculated that Devin may have been murdered because he reminded Knowles of his betrayal.

For Owens, Thursday's verdict was no victory, calling it a loss for both him and Knowles' family.

"It's like I've been standing still for three years waiting to see what happens," said Owens, who thanked police and prosecutors for their work. He and other family members planned to visit Devin's grave at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Joliet after the verdict.

Knowles' attorney George Mueller argued that Devin's death could have been an accident, but Schoenstedt found that the two pathologists who testified it was a homicide and the 30 to 35 injuries Devin suffered to his head showed otherwise.

Knowles was also the only adult in the home at the time of Devin's death. "It is well past the comprehension of any reasonable person that this was an accident," Schoenstedt said.

On the day Devin was murdered, Knowles was on edge after his dump truck broke down at work, prosecutors alleged. He drank numerous beers, did a line of cocaine to celebrate his birthday and was irritated that Julie did not provide "birthday sex."

Knowles still seemed fixated on the topic during the trial, repeatedly bringing up a conversation he had with Julie about birthday sex until Schoenstedt admonished him to simply answer Mueller's questions.

Prosecutor Steven Platek said he was pleased by the judge's decision and said the case involved some of the worst allegations of child abuse he had seen. The boy suffered a broken jaw, broken skull and bruising to his brain and intestines.

"It was difficult to deal with some of the evidence," Platek said.

Knowles, who faces up to 100 years in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 26.